MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams start the 2019 season on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Mark Covert Classic. This will be coach Sylvia Mosqueda's first meet as head coach.
 
MEET DETAILS
 
The race will be held at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif. The men's 8K will start at 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 9:15 a.m.
 
ROSTER NOTES
 
The Pepperdine men's cross country team is coming off one of their best seasons yet. They were ranked for the first time at #14 in the NCAA West Region by U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. They finished last season with the best West Regional finish in program history, placing at #15.
 
This year's 14-man men's team is boasts 10 returners from last year, including seven of the nine competitors from last year's West Coast Conference Championships. It's an experienced team, with two seniors and six juniors to go with four sophomores and two freshmen.
 
Fifteen of the 19 women on the roster have run for the Waves before, including all seven that raced at last season's WCC Championships. There are four seniors on the squad, five juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen.

MEN'S TEAM
 
Sophomore Jackson Felkins (Southlake, Texas. / Carroll Senior HS) starts this year as one of the program's lead runners. He was the Waves' highest placer last season at the NCAA West Regionals, running the 10K in a time of 30:43.2. This time put him on the Waves all-time top times list at number two. He was also the second-place finisher for the Wave's at the WCC Championships, posting a time of 25:22.8 in the 8K.
 
Although the Waves lost last season's #1 runner, Nick Heath, to graduation, senior Jalen Frantal (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central HS), juniors Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS) and Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS) and sophomore Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS) are returning and are expected to be huge contributors to the team this season.
 
WOMEN'S TEAM
 
Junior Abbey Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS) was the Waves' top finisher at all six meets last year, for the second year in a row, and is expected to lead the Waves again. She progressed up in the record book from last year, moving to #5 on Pepperdine's all-time 6K list and #7 on the 5K list.
 
Some of the other key returners back include senior Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS), juniors Cassidy Aberson (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville HS) Caroline Archer (Brentwood, Tenn./ Brentwood Academy) and Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS) and sophomore Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol HS) are expected to help lead the Waves.
 
QUOTABLE
 
Head coach Sylvia Mosqueda is heading into her first meet as head coach. She says: "We're going to go into this meet taking it lowkey because it's still early on. However, I'm really excited to see what they're going to give me on their first race."
 
SCHEDULE
 
The rest of this season's schedule includes the UC Riverside Invitational (Sept. 14), Sacramento State's Capital Cross Challenge (Sept. 28), and Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational (Oct. 19). The season will conclude with the WCC Championships on Nov. 1 and the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 15.